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Toeing the rubber on the mound where he was felled by a line drive back on May 7, Happ had another close encounter.

After retiring the first nine batters he faced Saturday night, Happ crashed his right knee into the ground fielding a successful bunt by Jason Bourgeois leading off the fourth.

It was the same knee that Happ injured when he fell to the ground when hit by the line drive back in May.

Happ clearly was bothered by the play and needed a couple of minutes to gather himself before taking a few pitches to determine if he could continue.

He did, and despite allowing two runs in the fourth, Happ bounced back to give the Jays 51/3 innings and pick up the win in their 6-2 triumph.

“It was great,” Happ said of the win. “We were battling offensively and were able to get a couple of runs and once we got the lead I definitely tried to keep it. We had guys come in and shut the door too. The relievers did a great job tonight.”

He said there was no hesitation in his mind about returning to this mound.

“No, I was looking forward to it,” he said of burying the ghosts. “I probably haven’t pitched the best here and I was looking forward to having the opportunity to change that up and have a good game, keep us in the game and I was happy I was able to do that.”

He said the play on the bunt and thump to the ground probably looked worse than it was.

“The knee’s good. I just kind of landed on the kneecap and it pushed in,” he said. “I just needed a couple of minutes to let it die down there and it was fine after that.”

It was Happ’s third start since returning from the disabled list and that undoubtedly helped to limit the butterflies.

Happ is now pitching with a knee brace but he didn’t think the apparatus aided him in his tumble.

“I’m not sure (if it helped),” he said. “It has a hole in the kneecap where I actually fell on so I don’t know if it did much for that play. It’s probably a good thing I’m still wearing it.”

Happ turned in a solid performance as he allowed five hits, walked one and struck out five to move to 3-2 on the season. It was his first win in eight starts, his last one occurring April 12.

It afforded the Jays a rare win at the Trop, just their 16th in the past 60 games. The Jays, with a victory on Sunday, would win the series and accomplish something they have not done here since April of 2007.

A message reminding the players of that fact was scrawled on the message board in their clubhouse.

The Jays were solid every which way as they received a pair of solo home runs from Adam Lind, one from Jose Bautista and speed of foot from Rajai Davis and Brett Lawrie.

Davis fueled the Jays two-run third with a bunt single and stolen base while Lawrie, after a double in the sixth, caught reliever Alex Torres napping, took off for third and when Torres threw wildly to the base, trotted home.

The two bombs for Lind marked the ninth multi-homer game of his career and first since June of 2012.

REMAINING UPBEAT

Kevin Pillar is still looking for his first big league hit but the rookie outfielder is far from being in the dumps after opening up 0-for-10.

Pillar didn’t make the start in left on Saturday but it wasn’t due to his lack of production as much as Rajai Davis’ history against Rays starter Roberto Hernandez (8-for-18).

Pillar has rocketed through the Jays minor-league system and now that he has hit the top level he’s running into pitching of the highest quality.

“The biggest thing so far is that these guys aren’t going to give in regardless what the count is, they’re going to throw what they think is their best pitch and it’s not always a fastball,” Pillar said when asked what the biggest difference there is to the pitching he now faces. “In the minor leagues, guys get behind and are struggling with location, they’re going to go with fastballs. Up here, these pitchers have a lot of confidence in their secondary pitches and they’re going to throw their best pitch regardless of what the count is and how their command is that day.”

Pillar said he’s not about to change the approach that got him here but he hopes to capitalize on one aspect of the game that is better than what it was in the minor leagues.

“The biggest thing I want to do now is take advantage of the big-league strike zone which is a little bit to the truer scale of the strike zone,” he said. “Some minor league umpires may expand it but from what I’ve seen here, these guys are pretty spot on (don’t try running that by Jose Bautista). The only think I hope to change is being a little more selective, make them throw it over the plate a little bit more.”

Pillar is still wowed by the night and day difference between the minor leagues and the big leagues — the luxury of the travel, the hotels, the fact that they don’t have to pick up a thing, they have an army of people doing things for them. He said he was talking to some of his former teammates in Buffalo last night and as they were preparing for an eight-hour bus trip he was sitting in a luxury hotel.